Eagles best Britney in sales

The Eagles' first new studio album since 1979 makes a surprise -- if not unexpected -- appearance at the top of U.S. pop sales chart this week.

The double-CD "Long Road Out of Eden" sold 711,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Britney Spears' "Blackout" came in second on sales of 290,000 copies.

The veteran rock act issued "Eden" through retailer Wal-Mart and the band's website.

That made it ineligible for inclusion on Billboard's sales chart because the magazine has excluded sales through a single vendor.

But Billboard changed its policy Monday, allowing "Long Road Out of Eden" to take the short road to sales heaven.

"We know that some retailers will be uncomfortable with this policy," Billboard's director of charts Geoff Mayfield wrote on the magazine's website, "but it was inevitable that Billboard's charts would ultimately widen the parameters to reflect changes that are unfolding in music distribution."